apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

Brilliant!

What a fun idea. I'm guessing you'd want to use some sort of flame- or heat-retardant lining under the outer fabric, though, especially if the board is made of wood.

We are setting up a vintage wooden ironing board in our laundry area in the basement. It will be kept up as a sort of table for soaps and supplies and also serves as a folding/ironing station. That is really pretty fabric too!

http://www.makemineeclectic.wordpress.com

Seems like it would be had to iron a shirt on it though, no?

This is a great idea. May have to try it at home.

I have ironed many a shirt on top of a folded bath towel, laid on top of my washing machine. It's not ideal, but with a little practice and nimble flipping of the garment, it can be done. A whole giant ironing board makes me delirious with joy----because I iron table cloths, napkins, pillow slips, and et cetera on my ironing board.

This is the biggest ironing board I've ever seen. I don't think the effect would be the same with a regular ironing board.

Wait--I just realized that the chair in front of the ironing board isn't a real chair. That's a whole nother ballgame!

i guess it's pretty until you accidentally leave the iron sitting on it for a couple seconds and have a giant burn mark right in the middle.

Your comments cracked me up, jooly!

It's too bad this wouldn't look as good if it were shaped like a traditional ironing board. I like the idea though...

Yes, sadly my cheap lifeless ironing board doesn't have the same effect when I leave it out and about (which is pretty much all the time).

jooly, you are RIGHT!!!!! I thought it was a regular chair too! But now that I look more closely, that would be one hell of a vase.

Okay, I take back my "wouldn't it be hard to iron on it" comment now that I know it's not the size of a headboard. (sheepishly slinks away)

This is freaking brillant!!!

Dang. I didn't look closely enough either.

But it doesn't matter! I'm already planning the bigBiggerBIGGEST ironing board ever, using a 4'x6' sheet of plywood :)

It's common to find BIG diy ironning boards in place where people are working with great volumes of fabric like pro bridal and wardrobe depts. I worked as a draper on a few films and had one of the crew make me a board out of 2x4s, plywood, and a special cotton batting that I can never find anymore. The best one I ever had was a dining room table where I replaced the legs with longer ones and plain laundered muslin covered the batting using a staple gun. Super easy.

However, making a floating board, covering it with something attractive, and using it as informal art during its off hours is a great idea. I wish I had thought of that. Just be sure to wash whatever fabric you will be using to cover it several times. Often dye houses don't fix the dye well and if you use a steam iron and a white shirt, the results will not be to your liking.

Sunny,

My cutting table is 72x60 (small traditional size). I think I will make another big ironing board like that which I can place on the table to use and then hang on the wall when not in use.

Be careful using just plywood as it will warp, especially with repeated use of a steam iron. See if you can find a old table an inset base about the right size and strip the legs off. You'll get a lot more mileage out of it.

Renngrrl! You rock :)
I will follow your recommendations.

I did something similar. I used a solid pine table top from IKEA (VIKA FURUSKOG- approx 24" x 48"). There is a layer of cotton quilt batting and topped with a tightly woven wool stapled nice & tight. It will discolor over time (just like a regular ironing board cover) but it's no big deal to replace it. So far I haven't had any problem with warping and I use it a lot in my sewing. I put it on top of my counter height cutting table when I need to press large pieces of fabric.

It looks great.

What sort of material is safe to use if I were to do something similar?

Thanks!